It is a well-known fact to everyone that psychological thriller movies or series can get too intense from time to time. Emerald Fennel’s iconic movie of the same genre, Saltburn, starring Barry Keoghan, came out last year and was considered a bit too over the top for some viewers. Rightfully so, as some scenes from the movie were just outright disturbing. In a recent interview, Keoghan talked about filming one of the most disturbing scenes from the movie and revealed that it was actually improvised.
Barry Keoghan talked about filming the Grave scene from Saltburn
Saltburn revolves around the story of a master manipulator and psychotic murderer, Oliver Quick, portrayed by Barry Keoghan, who manipulated a whole family into destroying themselves. Oliver Quick went to spend his vacation with his friend’s family at their country house, Saltburn. Oliver was lustfully obsessed with Felix Catton portrayed by Jacob Elordi in the movie. After Felix finds out that Oliver has lied to him about his family’s past to get close to him and his family, he confronts him. However, Oliver does not have any of it and goes on to poison Felix’s milk which ends up killing him.
After the death of Felix, Oliver breaks down and visits Felix’s grave alone where he gets completely naked and grinds on his dead friend’s grave. Everyone thought that this scene was a bit too over the top but the real surprise came when Barry Keoghan opened up about the filming of this scene. In a recent interview with Deadline on the Golden Globes Awards red carpet, Keoghan revealed that the disturbing scene was indeed improvised by him. He said,
“I wanted to see what Oliver would do next. I wanted to see what the next level of obsession was. And by that [I mean], I just wanted the camera to roll. Not to kind of preempt it or rehearse it and what happened, happened. It was one take, and I think it was right. It moved the story forward.”
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Fans react to the improvisation by Barry Keoghan while filming the infamous scene
Fans took to X(formerly Twitter) and reacted to finding out the reality of the grave scene. One fan wrote that that is why the management of a project needs to reject some of the cast’s requests.
This is why, as a director, it’s important to say no. https://t.co/pRN3yW6tjJ
— Rolo Tony (@PoorOldRoloTony) January 14, 2024
Some fans argued that Emerald Fennel should’ve let Keoghan shoot this scene if he wanted to but should not have included it in the final cut as it provided no value.
I would’ve let him shoot the scene if the budget was there but not included it. It was the brown bunny of this movie. “Shocking” for the sake of it but added nothing overall.
— lou weed | resigned in disgrace (@L0u13) January 14, 2024
A few fans even bashed Fennel for this scene and her “lack of vision” that let Barry Keoghan take control for what turned out to be one of the most disturbing scenes of the movie.
I feel like this is the best example of the lack of vision Emerald Fennell had. Just empty shock value and nothing to say
— M (@ChildishBlazer) January 14, 2024
Despite several outrageous scenes, Saltburn went on to gross almost $21 million at the box office and received positive reviews from viewers and critics. Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike were even nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively at the Golden Globe Awards for their roles in the movie.
Saltburn is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
